Tell Me Lies
by GreenCyberWolf
Summary: Nami's feeling depressed and unsure over her joining up with Luffy, Zoro, and Ussop. Late at night, the liar and the thief have a moment for themselves. Friendship Only. No Romance.


Nami's feeling depressed and unsure over her joining up with Luffy, Zoro, and Ussop. Late at night, the liar and the thief have a moment for themselves. Friendship Only. No Romance.

Just a little something that wandered into my mind the other night. I don't know if you'd call it a drabble or what but hope you enjoy anyway.

Dis: Don't own

_Tell Me Lies_

It was pleasantly cool on the waters of the East Blue, the Going Merry was anchored for the night, and the waves were nice and calm. However, all of that was lost on one particular orange haired navigator. She didn't take notice of the sparkling stars in the far away sky or the soothing lap-lap sound of the waves against the hull of the ship. A cold sweat was quickly drying on her brow but the shaking wouldn't stop.

Nami gasped in the breezy, refreshing, air. She leaned back on the wooden door to the store room, which also led to the hatch to her room. Speaking of which, she should be in her room right now, but found it impossible in the wake of one of her reoccurring nightmares. The young navigator pushed herself off the door and wearily made her way over to the side of the ship. She watched the moon's reflection on the water for a bit and that seemed to finally calm her down enough to relax her tense muscles.

"What am I doing here?" The pirate thief asked herself, leaning heavily on the railing. "These idiots obviously have no interest in treasure, so they shouldn't mean anything to me. I should just leave. That would be best for everyone."

Grimacing painfully, her recent nightmare came to life again. They often switched between the fishmen, Bellemere, Nojiko, or the other villagers. It was Arlong this time. The monstrous pirate had been showing up in her dreams a lot lately. He would terrorize the village, leaving nothing but blood and death in his wake. All the while, she was gallivanting around the East Blue with the audacity to smile and laugh, as if everyone she ever cared about wasn't struggling just to survive to the next day.

As her fingers tightened their grip on the painted wood of the railing, Nami never noticed the skinny body that shimmied down from the crow's nest, and came up behind her. She had long ago grown out of the homesickness thing, but as the navigator turned her face to the heavens, she was surprised to find tears threatening to form. _'I wonder if Nojiko is asleep yet or not. Who am I kidding; she probably went to bed hours ago. Even when Bellemere would let us stay up late to watch the stars, she would always turn in early.'_ A hand placing itself on her shoulder ripped Nami's attention away from the past. She whipped around, alarmed, and her fist landed squarely on the head of the recently acquired sniper.

"Ussop?!" Nami gaped down at the barely conscious body. "Geez, you scared me. What are you doing, sneaking up on people like that?"

"My… watch…" The curly haired sharpshooter managed to gasp out. A shaky hand reached out to pull himself up by the railing. "What are _you _doing out here?" Ussop asked, getting himself together, and looking curiously at his crewmate.

Nami glanced away. She wasn't about to spill her guts to the cowardly pirate, wasn't like it was any of his business anyway. "Nothing, just couldn't sleep." She answered softly after a moment.

Ussop cocked his head at the soft tone. In truth he hadn't known any of his new friends for very long yet. However, something told him this wasn't natural for the navigator. He watched her look back to the moonlit water with an almost sad expression. "Ya wanna talk about it?" He offered.

Jerking her head around, Nami couldn't hide her shock from the offer. Her brown eyes narrowed for a moment to scrutinize her traveling companion. _'Why would he ask that? What would he gain from it? It's not like he knows me or anything.'_ She thought about it for a long moment before realizing something. _'Then again, it's not like I knew him either, when I agreed to help him against those pirates. Why do I care so much about these guys?! Luffy's a hopeless idiot, Zoro's a stubborn blockhead, and Ussop's nothing but a liar.'_ Yet, despite everything her brain said, Nami felt like nothing would make her happier than to sail away with this group of unconventional pirates.

"It's nothing, drop it." Nami sighed, her mind whirling with inner conflict. She turned away from Ussop, walking over to the mast, and placing her back to it. She slid down the wood to sit on the deck and closed her eyes. _'I wish I could sail to the Grand Line with you guys. I wish I could sail with you all, forever. It would be useless to lie to myself though.'_

The sniper grunted as he sat down next to the navigator, not close enough to be in her personal space, but near enough to offer something through his presence. He figured it was the least he could do.

Nami cracked one eye open, watching the coward of a pirate with a small amount of appreciation. "Ussop," she spoke up after a minute of silence between them, "you're a pretty good liar."

Ussop frowned and blinked at the strangely sudden… compliment?

"Tell me one." The navigator requested. Her brown eyes were open and now locked on the sniper, a strange sort of glint in them, behind her blank expression.

"Uh…" Ussop was caught totally off-guard by someone actually voluntarily listening to one of his lies, besides Kaya that is. "We-well, okay, what about the time-"

"Tell me what the Grand Line will be like." Nami interrupted. She brought her knees up to her chest, a cooling breeze blowing over the pair, and making her shiver the tiniest bit. "Tell me what kind of adventures we'll all have there. Where will Zoro, Luffy, you and me sail to in the future?" _'Nothing but lies and false promises to dream by.'_

There it was. That soft, sad, tone again. Ussop furrowed his brows, confused, but somehow knew not to bring up the subject. Instead, he cleared his throat, and indulged the girl's request. "The Grand Line is a dangerous, mysterious, place. That's why it's known as the pirate graveyard. There are things there that no one here in the East Blue has ever dreamed of before." Ussop started, lowering his voice conspiratorially, as if he were sharing the secrets of the universe. A small grin passed over his face as he kept his eyes on Nami.

The navigator had her head tilted back against the mast, bright brown eyes reflecting the stars above them, and her expression a million miles away. Perhaps she was envisioning everything the lying sniper was telling her. He didn't dare stop his story to ask.

X

"And then, when we reach the end of the Grand Line, we'll find the One Piece and Luffy'll become the new Pirate King. The party will last for days, weeks even. There'll be food and drink and fun and a BIG bonfire. We'll be such a cool and powerful pirate crew that we'll be able to do anything we want for the rest of our lives."

Ussop finished his tale with a grand flourish and was quite pleased with himself. He waited for the inevitable applause or gasps of astonishment for telling such a terrific story. But, none came. The sniper quirked a brow and looked to the side, ready to complain to Nami. After all, she was the one who wanted to hear it in the first place. His opened mouth snapped shut and he smiled. His orange haired crewmate hadn't moved from her spot at the base of the mast but her head was resting on top of her arms that were crossed over her knees. Her breathing was slow and steady, indicating that somewhere along his fantastic tale, she had fallen asleep.

In any other circumstance the storyteller in him would take offence to that, however, seeing the soft smile that pulled at the corner of her lips let him know he'd done a good job anyway. He sighed in satisfaction as he leaned back on his hands and watched the sun rise. _'We'll get there someday. That's no lie.'_

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Review Please. I hardly do anything between Ussop and Nami, ya gotta tell me how it went.


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